National News

The Bikini Bridge to Nowhere

by Erin Cunningham

#BikiniBridge is defined as when "bikini bottoms are suspended between the two hip bones, causing a space between the bikini and the lower abdomen.” In the past three days, the hashtag has been retweeted over 4,000 times. There’s even aTumblr and countless Twitter accounts dedicated to the fad.

The latest “trend” in thinspiration, however, can also be defined as a major hoax.

The bikini bridge is, of course, already earning notoriety as the thinspo-trend of 2014, replacing last year’s obsession with the thigh gap. Yet while the thigh gapwas a very real body image issue, the bikini bridge may not be.

4chan, a popular image-board site, has reportedly (and dangerously) initiated a ploy to explode the bikini bridge across the internet. The hoax, entitled "Operation Bikini Bridge" by an anonymous user, featured a fairly simple, two-phase plot.

Phase one emphasized the importance of producing and circulating images, thereby sparking both social and media outrage. "Create propaganda parading the 'bikini bridge' to be the next big thing (pic related — that read “If you have time to complain, you have time to train,” or “Getting a smoother tan line from your bikini bridge”). Circulate it throughout the internet. Simultaneously, we create reverse propoganda, denouncing the bikini bridge as an unhealthy obsession. This, too, we circulate throughout the internet."